Contents:
STUDENT SUCCESS !
A SURVEY OF GRADUATING ISU STUDENTS
How do students succeed?
Read these tips and words of encouragement
(and thanks) submitted by graduating ISU students.
Comments are listed by majors/areas of study:
Note: The Office of Distance Support Services is currently surveying Indiana State University students who plan to
graduate (or complete their chosen program of study or coursework ) in December 2004 or May 2005.
Please encourage your distance students to participate.
For instructions and a link to this online survey, visit our
Student Success Survey
ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW CRIMINOLOGY COURSE !
Students registering for Spring 2005 will have the option
of over 200 distance courses, including the following
new online criminology course - offered via year-based study.
CRIM 416 Symposium on Criminology: Introduction to Terrorism
Delivery: Web (Internet)
Campus requirements: None
Instructor: Paul Lottino
This course is designed for students seeking a bachelor's in criminology or related fields (psychology
or political science). For details, see CRIM 416 Introduction to Terrorism
ISU faculty members seeking assistance with course development should contact:
Center for Teaching and Learning
Instructional Design Staff
(812) 237-3053
www.indstate.edu/ctl
For assistance with distance course delivery,
contact:
Melissa Hughes
Director, Distance Support Services
m-hughes@indstate.edu
GRADEBOOK MANAGEMENT
- by BRUCE DRUMMOND, ISU Instructional Designer
With midterms behind us, now is a good time to
backup that grade book.
If you are using paper and pencil, it is fairly easy
to make a photocopy and store it some place safe
where you can find it later. But what if you are
using a spreadsheet? You save it to a floppy, or
make a print out and again store it someplace safe
and accessible.
But what if you are using one of the online course
management systems supported by Indiana State
University?
The good news is that you can download your gradebook
directly to your computer. Regardless of whether you are
using Blackboard or WebCT, the grades can be downloaded
as a .csv file.
Note: A .csv file is one in which the values (names,
grades, etc.) are separated by a comma and can be opened
by a variety of spreadsheet applications such as Excel.
Once you have downloaded you gradebook, you can
then save it to a floppy as a backup.
However, there are some basic differences between
Blackboard and WebCT in terms of what can be done
with a gradebook once it has been downloaded.
For example, if you are using the web to support or
enhance a face-to-face course, you may have some exercises,
assignments, or quizzes online to supplement classroom activities.
The online components, just as the classroom activities,
have associated grades. If you make the online gradebook
available for students to track their own performance during
the semester, you will need to add columns in the gradebook
for the face-to-face grades. This can be done directly in
Blackboard or WebCT.
There are two main difference between the two systems.
In Blackboard you can make these additions in the gradebook
file that you downloaded and subsequently upload the edited
gradebook to Blackboard; the columns will be added. But there
is a warning: if you upload incorrect information or overwrite an
existing grade column, the existing data may not be recoverable.
In WebCT you cannot upload a gradebook -- you can only download --
thus avoiding the potential loss of data.
If you would like more information on managing your online gradebook,
please feel free to call the Center for Teaching and Learning or visit
the following link to online tutorials:
Tutorial Listing
www.indstate.edu/cta/Tutorials/tutorials.htm
Contact:
Center for Teaching and Learning
Indiana State University
Dreiser Hall, room 122
(812) 237-3053
www.indstate.edu/ctl
ETCETERA, ETCETERA, ETCETERA
Mark Your Calendar - Virtual Brownbag Series:
2nd Wednesdays@Noon is a professional
development program for faculty and instructional
technologists at Indiana colleges and universities. The December presentation is:
IHETS Interactive: A Web-based Application for
Real-time Presentation and Collaboration
December 8, 2004; 12:00 (noon)
Erickson Hall, room 108
Presenter: Lynn Ward, Assistant Director of E-learning
Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System
For more information, visit:
2nd Wednesdays@Noon.
THOUGHT FOR DECEMBER:
" Anyone can do what I have done. "
Mary Fleming
Hanover, Indiana
Spring 2004 Graduate
Human Resource Development (B.S.)
Interaction is published by the Office of Distance
Support Services - Indiana State University.
